“The question most Haitians are asking [is], what is working today in the country? Because everywhere you turn it’s just one crisis after another.”—Jacqueline Charles Turmoil keeps broiling in Haiti, with gangs growing increasingly powerful. In addition to recently kidnapping 17 missionaries, gangs also control fuel supplies, preventing internet use, hospital care and more. Haiti was also the last country in the Americas to receive COVID vaccines. Schools are closed, and can’t meet online. But t...
Oct 25, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 23
We started the Better Samaritan with the goal of addressing two things. Both were inspired by Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermon on that parable: How can we better help the hurting person in front of us? How can we make the road safer for those to come in the future? To that end, at the close of every episode of our podcast, we ask the same five questions: What has surprised you in your work? How are you learning to do good, better? What does ...
Aug 02, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 22
We started the Better Samaritan with the goal of addressing two things, inspired by Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermon on that parable: How can we better help the hurting person in front of us? How can we make the road safer for those to come in the future? To that end, at the close of every episode, we ask the same five questions: What has surprised you in your work? How are you learning to do good, better? What does humility look like in your...
Jul 26, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 21
On the Better Samaritan podcast, we’ve had the great privilege of interviewing many humanitarians doing critical work around the world. To close every episode, we ask the same five questions: What has surprised you in your work? How are you learning to do good, better? What does humility look like in your field? How can we make the [Jericho] road safer for those coming in the future? How do you sustain hope? We thought it would be fascinating to to compile all the answers to each question, one a...
Jul 19, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 20
On the Better Samaritan podcast, we’ve had the great privilege of interviewing many humanitarians doing critical work around the world. To close every episode, we ask the same five questions: What has surprised you in your work? How are you learning to do good, better? What does humility look like in your field? How can we make the [Jericho] road safer for those coming in the future? How do you sustain hope? We thought it would be fascinating to to compile all the answers to each question, one a...
Jul 12, 2021•19 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Tensions in Haiti have been high ever since President Jovenel Moïse took office in 2017, with increased violence, tensions, and kidnappings. The opposition had even disputed the date of the end of his term, saying it ended in February 2021 according the Constitution. Moïse refused to step down. Meanwhile, Marc Antoine, Haiti Country Director for global Christian nonprofit Tearfund, estimates that the actual level of poverty in Haiti is far greater than the 60 percent reported on the World Bank w...
Jul 07, 2021•19 min•Season 1Ep. 18
On the Better Samaritan podcast, we’ve had the great privilege of interviewing many humanitarians doing critical work around the world. To close every episode, we ask the same five questions: What has surprised you in your work? How are you learning to do good, better? What does humility look like in your field? How can we make the [Jericho] road safer for those coming in the future? How do you sustain hope? Compiled in this episode are answers to our first question: What has surprised you in yo...
Jul 05, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Rich Stearns wants to flip the script on leadership. In his new book, Lead Like it Matters to God, he writes that God doesn’t actually look for success. He looks for faithfulness. Join the Better Samaritan email list to receive a discount code for this and other IVP titles! Highlights: How God uses seasons in the wilderness (in Rich’s case, getting fired twice in one year!) to refine our hearts Why faithfulness is more important that success Why it’s freeing to surrender your career What humilit...
May 17, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 16
On the Better Samaritan we often talk about how to make 'the road' safer. This stems from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s sermon, pointing out that helping the wounded person in front of us is not enough; we also have to look up the road and determine what is causing it to be so dangerous. In humanitarian work, of course, these are known as systemic challenges. Terence Lester, our guest on this episode, knows a thing or two about systemic challenges—and evaluating streets for safety. At more than ...
May 10, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Questions we had for David in this episode: Tell us about the song and iInspiration behind "Turning Over Tables," the theme song for our podcast? Can you unpack the relationship between imagination, faith, and discipleship? What are the advantages—both in art and peacemaking—to being comfortable with dissonance? Listening has been a theme on this podcast, and it's something we discuss with our graduate students. How do we listen well? RESOURCES: Undaunted Podcast: Conversations with Radical Peac...
Apr 12, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Pastor Jean Pierre Gatera landed in Minneapolis with his wife and three kids in September 2016. He later told CT, “Resettlement was like getting thrown into the sea." President Biden has already promised to raise the admittance ceiling to a relatively conservative 125,000. Is the American church prepared to start welcoming refugees again? Gatera would know; he is now a pastor of pastors, serving other refugee churches across the U.S. with the International Association for Refugees, and advising ...
Mar 29, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Women and children across the globe spend 200 million hours per day carrying out one vital task: collecting water. What if they could instead spend that time going to school, building businesses, and earning income for themselves? That’s the unleashed potential of bringing access to clean water to everyone in the world, according to Dr. Greg Allgood. Allgood is VP of Water for WorldVision. He also founded and spent 26 years directing the Procter & Gamble Children’s Safe Drinking Water progra...
Mar 22, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Syrian civil war–a conflict which has already killed and wounded 12,000 children. So we asked Jeremy Courtney, whose organization Pre-emptive Love works with Syrian refugees, to get raw with the Better Samaritan about journeying from privilege into ministry, and back again... a constant grapple between pride and service. Preemptive Love is a global coalition of peacemakers confronting fear with acts of love. The coalition performs emergency relief for fami...
Mar 15, 2021•22 min•Season 1Ep. 11
It's been one long year. What started as a nebulous threat has dragged on for twelve long months, killing more than half a million people in the U.S. alone, and affecting nearly every system in modern life. Here at the Humanitarian Disaster Institute, we study crises of all kinds, from hurricanes to pandemics, and the ways people recover from them. Using our research, we can draw on experiences from other disasters on how to grieve and move forward with hope. And we have found that marking trage...
Mar 09, 2021•12 min•Season 1Ep. 10
"There’s a demand. It’s an unapologetic demand generated by people who don’t think too much about the consequences of their choices. It’s evil and a heinous crime. But sometimes it’s inconvenient to dig deeper." —Anu George Canjanathoppil, IJM Canada While conspiracy theories continue to make actual justice work harder for many organizations, Anu joins the Better Samaritan to clarify the real situation: trafficking flourishes in countries where the public justice system does not work for the poo...
Mar 08, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 9
"Climate change is not just an environmental issue—it is a threat multiplier. It takes everything we care about including the most devastating humanitarian crises, and makes them worse. It’s like a hole in the bucket." —Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, atmospheric scientist According to Katharine Hayhoe, we’re stuck in a system that must change. As a scientist, professor, director of the Climate Center, founder and CEO of ATMOS Research, and a principal investigator for the Department of Interior, Katharin...
Mar 01, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 8
This Black History Month, the Better Samaritan sits down to talk about the sermon that inspires our theme. Join us for a conversation with Dr. Peniel Joseph of the University of Texas at Austin to discuss King’s sermon, "On Being a Good Neighbor," as well as his place within American society. In the sermon, King points out why the Priest and Levite may have passed by the wounded man on the road. Perhaps they were too busy with important ecclesiastical meetings, he says, or perhaps their temple r...
Feb 22, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 7
“Institutions and systems and ministries are not Christ, nor is Christendom the same as the living body of Christ. Christendom, like all threatened institutions, tries to protect itself.” —Dr. Diane Langberg Dr. Diane Langberg started practicing psychology 45 years ago—when the only way to understand trauma was by studying her clients, rather than her books. She joins the Better Samaritan podcast to discuss power and abuse in the church, how to respond when a friend opens up to you about abuse, ...
Feb 15, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Fifty thousand civilians have died—so far. Military conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia has resulted in displacement, mass rape, looting, and starvation. According to BBC sources, “literally millions of people [are] beyond the reach of humanitarian aid.” NGOs are ready and waiting to assist Tigray people, but they don’t have a way in due to government restrictions. CT reported on these tensions and the political circumstances surrounding them in November. At the time, a WorldVision staffer...
Feb 09, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 5
How do you turn a Stanford-trained mechanical engineer into a Christian activist? Send her on a global poverty immersion trip. That was Nikki Toyama-Szeto's story. Now, after serving in leadership positions at International Justice Mission, the Urbana Conference and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, she is the executive director of Christians for Social Action, the network originally founded by Ron Sider. Nikki shares with the Better Samaritan the biggest mistake Christian activists make, why C...
Feb 04, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 4
“I’ve never seen a disaster create a vulnerability that didn’t already exist.” —Dr. Nicolette Louissaint, Executive Director of Healthcare Ready According to healthcare and preparedness authority Dr. Nicolette Louissaint, the church is a place to contextualize what we are hearing about the pandemic. In this episode, she discusses with Kent and Jamie the crucial role of the church in public health, how long pandemic recovery is *actually* going to take (hint: it won’t be over in September), expla...
Jan 28, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 3
“It is not safe to be in politics with your feet planted there, but with your feet planted in the gospel all manner of things are safe.” —Michael Wear Former White House aide and faith strategist Michael Wear says politics is not opt-in. It's like any other area of life where false motives can creep in and distort. But knowing that isn’t an excuse to withdraw. Michael is a leading strategist, speaker and practitioner at the intersection of faith, politics and public life. He has advised a presid...
Jan 21, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 2
When we use our imagination concerning the reason why the Priest and the Levite did not stop to help the wounded man, numerous things come to mind. Perhaps they were in a hurry to get to an important ecclesiastical meeting for which they could not afford to be late. Perhaps their temple regulations demanded that they touch no human body for several hours before their temple function began. Or, they could have been on their way to a meeting to organize a Jerico Road Improvement Association. Certa...
Jan 14, 2021•17 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Welcome to The Better Samaritan, a podcast where we’re learning how to do good, better. Hosts Jamie Aten and Kent Annan will — along with you — explore ways we can more effectively love our neighbors, from everyday acts of kindness to navigating the most complex humanitarian challenges facing the church and society. The name “The Better Samaritan” was inspired by a sermon on the parable of the Good Samaritan from The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said, “It is not enough to aid the wo...
Dec 08, 2020•2 min
